SkinnyMarie, that problem is definitely covered by Applecare. I've had that fixed twice already, lol.
I'm a huuuge fan of AppleCare. I have a white Macbook that I got August '07 and so far I've had two hard drive failures and two cracked wrist rests like SkinnyMarie described above. All fixed without hassle in less than 24 hours. Sure, I should be annoyed that I've had these problems in the first place, but I love my macbook enough that it's worth it. Plus with Time Machine and my external HD, I didn't lose a single file in either hard drive failure. I'd rather pay the extra money for the Apple hardware and protection plan and have hassle-free fixes than pay less money for a PC and have to deal with horrible customer service and frustration like I have in the past. Soo worth it.

SkinnyMarie, that problem is definitely covered by Applecare. I've had that fixed twice already, lol.I'm a huuuge fan of AppleCare. I have a white Macbook that I got August '07 and so far I've had two hard drive failures and two cracked wrist rests like SkinnyMarie described above. All fixed without hassle in less than 24 hours. Sure, I should be annoyed that I've had these problems in the first place, but I love my macbook enough that it's worth it. Plus with Time Machine and my external HD, I didn't lose a single file in either hard drive failure. I'd rather pay the extra money for the Apple hardware and protection plan and have hassle-free fixes than pay less money for a PC and have to deal with horrible customer service and frustration like I have in the past. Soo worth it.

5 years

SkinnyMarie, that's a known problem and if you have APP it can be covered.
There's actually several things in that above list that are not cut and dry. The battery thing has loosened up a bit and we are finding that some will qualify to get replaced even if they are over a year old. If you have an incident with a lightening surge, power outage surge or the like- there's no easy way for us to tell that this is why your computer isn't turning on. Don't fess up if you plugged in your blowdryer and it zapped all the power in your house.
Things you can't try and pass by are dropped computers, cracked screens and liquid damage. Even if your computer looks pristine and doesn't smell like the coffee you spilled on it- we will know. There are several liquid spill indicators in each model.

I just noticed today that my year and a half old macbook is cracking right where the magnets from the screen touch the main part of the computer. Someone then told me "well isn't 2 years about the age of a laptop?". in 1990. My last laptop (compaq) lasted 7 years before I replaced it. It still even worked, but became limited with upgrading it.